How to Build Infrastructure for Innovation

Pleased to share Arjun Gargeyas and my master's thesis with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, on a roadmap for India’s new Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF). We are grateful to the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School for publishing this. Innovation is vital for India’s long-term economic dynamism. Our paper seeks to understand the barriers to increasing public & private R&D in India, and provide policy recommendations for ANRF to discharge its mission of building India’s long-term innovation strength. We cover 3 critical areas: 1. 𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙮𝙘𝙡𝙚: We recommend ANRF seed more multidisciplinary research programs centered at universities and aligned with India's National Missions. This should involve greater long-term collaboration across science, engineering and design, and bring research at universities into greater focus than historically. We also recommend funding programs to support deeptech startups & SMEs cross the twin (or triple?) ‘valleys of death’, and risk-absorbing capital to encourage Indian industry to adopt frontier technologies at scale. 2. 𝘼𝙫𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙍&𝘿 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚: ANRF must increase broad-based access to R&D infrastructure, including physical (labs, equipment, facilities, testbeds) and digital infra (software, simulation tools etc.). It should increase utilization of existing S&T facilities in the country, incentivize market-driven expansion of new infrastructure, and scale up initiatives like One Nation One Subscription, One District One Equipment, i-Stem and S&T clusters. 3. 𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜-𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡: ANRF must address two challenges in building human capital strength for R&D - (i) motivation (ii) linkages. We recommend targeted programs at key constituencies, like school and undergrad students (e.g. building on Atal Innovation Mission), and the Indian diaspora. ANRF must encourage mobility between researchers in the private sector (including MNEs & GCCs), academia and national R&D labs. Some areas which we did not study in a lot of detail, but which need to be explored further: • Accountability of public R&D spending; frequency and quality of S&T data • Sector-specific IP regimes; awareness about IP monetization pathways; IP conflict resolution processes   • Tapping private universities and foreign university branch campuses to build R&D capabilities of Indian students, researchers and companies We are grateful to our faculty advisors (Prof. Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Prof Tarun Khanna, Prof. John Haigh), our advisor at Office of PSA B. Chagun Basha, our interviewees, and several people who provided feedback on our drafts. We welcome feedback on the report. Do reach out if you are working in this space - we'd love to delve deeper and turn our design into implementation.

Nations succeed when they harness their resources for technological advantage. For AI, this means advanced chips, data, and energy – and expanding America’s AI infrastructure is crucial to driving economic growth and maintaining our edge over China. Today, we’re proposing a set of ambitious ideas for how to build more of it. If we get this right – we can reindustrialize the country, revitalize the American Dream, and ensure democratic, free AI prevails over autocratic, authoritarian AI.🚀 1️⃣ AI Economic Zones: States can incentivize faster permitting and approvals for AI infrastructure, making it easier to bring dormant nuclear reactors back online and build new wind farms and solar arrays while incentivizing states and local communities to participate by allocating a portion of the AI compute generated to support the standing up of AI developer hubs in the local community. ☀️ 2️⃣ National Transmission Highway Act: We need an ambitious program akin to the 1956 Interstate Highway Act to expand transmission lines, fiber connectivity, and natural gas pipeline construction. Providing authority and funding to address the “Three P’s”—planning, permitting, and payment—will be essential to unlocking the vast amounts of renewable energy currently stuck in backlogs. ⚡ 3️⃣ Government Backstops for AI Public Works: The government can encourage private investors to fund high-cost energy infrastructure projects by committing to purchase energy and other means that lessen credit risk. The investment should include investment in training a new generation of workers to support and run this infrastructure. This collaboration plays to each sector’s strengths: government sets the goals, industry builds to meet them. 🏗️ 4️⃣ North American Compact for AI: The US and its neighbors can team up to streamline access to capital, supply chains, and talent in a way that supports AI infrastructure construction. Over time, it could expand to a global network of our allies, creating an economic bloc capable of competing with any in the world. 🌎 5️⃣ Tapping the Expertise of the Nuclear Navy: Nuclear power is America’s largest source of clean energy, yet our infrastructure is aging. By tapping into the expertise of our nuclear Navy—which operates about 100 small modular reactors on its submarines—we can help to revive America’s nuclear ecosystem. ⚛️ OpenAI is committed to working with forward-thinking leaders from both parties to turn these ideas into reality. It’s time to do what America does best: think big, act big, and build big. 💪

🦾 Want to strengthen your region? Don’t chase a unicorn. Build a studio. 👇 🚀 Studios Are the New Engines of Local Resilience It's common for a regional innovation group model themselves as “the next Silicon Valley.” 👉 They point to local startups raising rounds, or new coworking spaces as signs of momentum. 👉 They try to attract big VC names. 👉 They talk about unicorns — but not about systems. The truth? Silicon Valley wasn’t built on ambition alone. It was built on infrastructure: ✅ Tier-one research institutions ✅ Dense investor/operator networks ✅ Embedded capital recycling ✅ Cultural tolerance for failure + velocity Most regions don’t have that. And that’s okay — because you don’t need to replicate Silicon Valley. You need to build what’s right for your region. Here’s what we recommend instead: 1️⃣ Build a venture studio or applied innovation program that channels local IP, talent, and funding into repeatable company creation. 2️⃣ Create a pathway for founders — especially nontraditional ones — to access resources, coaching, and early signal validation. 3️⃣ Invest in core infrastructure: - Shared services (legal, marketing, finance) - Community capital models - Applied curriculum tied to venture creation, not just entrepreneurship theory Stop betting on the “one big startup.” Start investing in the system that creates dozens of real, resilient ones. Studios. Shared tools. Repeatable learning. That’s how you build an innovation economy — not a headline. #EconomicDevelopment #StartupStudios #LocalInnovation #MissionDrivenVenture